Bee's Buzzing

Hi.
Great week of training. Had 4 hours, 30 minutes of distance running, and 3 upper body workouts... will set my schedule for 2008. Will post that soon. Most likely, the first event will be the Buckeye Trail race on January 26th. I am leaning towards doing the Half Marathon. Will let you know.




Great job by the Medina High School Cross Country Team. They won the State Div 1 title on Saturday. Donny Roys, pictured in the back row, second from the left was the State overall champ in the Division One Race. Brecksville Girls won the Div 1 title.

Got any pics of your team or individuals in endurance racing, send them to me..
jtelich@sbcglobal.net and I will be happy to give kudos to you.

Ryan, Alberto and Denzel

Thinking of three people.. each one because of their heart.


Ryan Shay. You may have heard. Collapsed and died at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in New York. Tremendous sadness. Cast a pall all over the Big Apple this weekend as thousands are there for the Marathon Sunday.


Alberto Salazar. The great marathoner was profiled in Sports Illustrated this week. Detailed his heart attack in recent times. And also talked of how he felt another one likely to come on. How he alertly sensed one was in the offing. How they needed to open up one artery that was 90 percent blocked. Doctors thought it was 30 percent blocked.


How Alberto ran his competition into the ground all those years and came close many times to running himself right into a casket. He taunted death many times.



The third person is 15 year Denzel Douglas of Lakewood High School in suburban Cleveland. Denzel had a heart transplant in Summer of 06. 3 weeks ago, the body rejected the heart and he spiralled downward. He lasted about 2 weeks. He was buried on Friday. Buried in a Braylon Edwards Cleveland Browns jersey.





I never knew Denzel, although I visited him at the Cleveland Clinic as he was fighting for his life. I met his cousin, Darla. I hugged his Mom Tara and tried to buoy her spirits. Denzel was unconscious, as the best heart professionals in the world did all they could to save him.

He was an immensely popular young man who always made everyone around him feel good.


I wonder why Denzel never got his chance to play basketball for Lakewood High. Why Denzel's picture had to be in an obituary column in the paper and why it came to a point where kids were wearing tee shirts with his picture on them. Why was his time so short.


I often think that we are given so many beats of our hearts. My ticker is in great shape. So might be yours. However there are no guarantees. Denzel had not a care in the world until last summer. Ryan Shay was trying to represent his country in the Olympics. Glory in athletics was what he was after. Alberto Salazar dodged death. He has a second chance and is turning young athletes into champions.


So, I guess what I am wondering is...how come the big guy has allowed me to be here..right now...age 54... dreaming of racing triathlons .?? Why do I get each day?? What am I doing with each day??? Am I too consumed with training while missing the big picture.???


A heavy heart still beats, just the same.


triguyjt

Fly High with Courage

Greetings from the other side of Halloween. Thought of courage last night as I watched dozens of kids gather the gumption to approach my neighbor, Scotti's home. He put all of us to shame. 50 lava lamps. A neon ghost that danced with the wind. Scary Music. Dark secrets waiting to jump out and scare kids.

In some way, the kids summoned up courage to approach the house. Some had their parents goad them along. Some tried to show their friends how brave they were. Many never came within yards of the home. It was too scary.

What did Eddie Rickenbacker, the famous pilot write about courage????

"Courage is doing
what you're afraid to do.
There can be no courage
unless you're scared."

The sport of triathlon and endurance is filled with people who stare at some kind of fear...and strike it down.

Open water swimming intimidates lots of people. I've have had many people tell me they could do a triathlon, but "swimming in a big lake is just not for me". They fear the unknown. They are away from a comfortable lane in their comfortable Y pool. Its a whole other ballgame. The open water stops alot of people from getting into our sport.

Joe Sanchez, one of my buddies at Fox 8 did a triathlon a few years ago, but not before he summoned up the courage, the strength to wrestle the demons of open water swimming. It was no small feat. Thats why I respect what he did.

I have always been comfortable in open water. I grew up on Lake Erie. Spent day after day in the lake. Swam out far from shore. Hung out on a raft. Then swam to shore.

My first Ironman distance race, The Pineman in 1999 began well. But as 400 of us racers were out in the middle of the lake, the fog descended. We had NO idea where the heck we were. I felt calm amidst all that. I knew I would reach shore sooner or later. For me to get to shore did not take any courage. But for others. Those who never swam that far before. Those who were freaking out in the fog. They had to summon the courage to get to shore.

My gorgeous bride, gathers her courage every time she flies. Getting into a plane is no small feat for her. She lived overseas from age 10-17. Over and back from New York to Europe many times. But then, one day, she just got panicked having to fly in a plane. Every time since then, she works up her courage when flying the friendly skies.

All around us are examples of courage. Standing up to a bully. Conquering the fear of heights. Telling your peers you don't need to smoke that marijuana or drink that booze. The list can be endless.

How high can you fly?? Whats holding you back???

Bizarro World in Cleveland

Workouts going well.Have gotten in excellent upper body workouts and one solid leg workout. Did my brides Pilates class on Sunday. Had been straying from Pilates as triathlon was winding down. I always figured, its best to enjoy the gorgeous late summer and fall weather by training outside. Today, a nice leisurely run at the Chagrin River Park. See earlier post about my thoughts on the place.


Bizarro world in Cleveland. As long as I have been doing the sports on the boob tube for Fox 8, I have never seen all the sports teams perform as such a high level at the same time.


Indians were always lousy till the 90's. Cavs had their moments in late 80's but never got past Michael and the Bulls. Browns had solid 80's teams with Kosar, Mack and Byner but were the pits from the early 90's until the team was moved to Baltimore. Since the Browns were re-born in 99, they have been doormats, save for one year.


Now, what the heck is going one??? Lebron and Cavs in the finals.!!! Thats yours truly quizzing LeBron after a playoff win.

Triguyjt "Cripes, your a tall human being"

LeBron "Standing next to a midget, what would you expect?"

Triguyjt "What was the key to your victory?"

LeBron "Scoring more than the other team!!!"

Triguyjt " Thanks LeBron,..Back to the Studio"



Indians go to the 7th game of the ALCS???


And now, the Browns are 4-3. What in tarnation is going on???




The teams success's mean my triathlon world gets knocked around!!! I could always figure on racing in late May or early June, but now, I have to be ready to travel to the Cavs playoff games..........


The Indians went deep into October, jostling around some potential races and now, the Browns might make the playoffs. That puts January plans in jeopardy.

I am not complaining. Secretly, I think we are living a Seinfeld episode in Cleveland. What was down, is up and what was up is down.

Next year, heres hoping all the teams records are through the roof. That just means I will have to be one heck of a juggler, but not any more of a juggler than most of you, who bust your butts in training and racing and working your jobs.


Give me a title, and I'll go anywhere!!!!!!

Hank was a Smart Guy

Good solid, workout today as I remain in the "recovery phase" from the triathlon season.
I did 5 sets of upper body work and 25:00 on the elliptical as I try not to aggravate my bone spur on my right heel, plus a very sore right hammy. Enough about that stuff.

Soon will be ramping up the mileage as I anticipate 2008 to be my most intense season in my 22 years in the sport. Why not?? I'll be 55. 5 races this year. Next year I would like to do 7 with perhaps my 4th Ironman distance race to finish out the year.

Now to Hank. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

"The heights by great men
reached and kept
Were not attained
by sudden flight,
But they, while their
companions slept,
Were toiling upward
in the night."

Its the perfect poem to sum up our sport. In fact, any sport. Whomever thinks they can just "take flight" and smoke out the competition is kidding themselves.

I have been guilty of it for certain races over the years. I am not elite by any stretch of the imagination. But there has never been a race where I have posted a personal best or where I was high up in my age group where I didn't put in the extra work.

Its not that we toil while everyone else is sleeping, although some days it feels like that. Its that we don't take for granted the fact that "peparedness and sacrifice means a thoroughly satisfying racing experience."

Theres some smugness about us in this sport. We are aware that we compete in a very demanding sport and that we are in the upper percentile of fit people around. I just hope that I don't take any of that for granted. That I continue to strive to do my best. That I strive in training and that I strive in going the extra mile in doing for others.

Thanks Hank. Hey, you were ahead of your time.

Decisions Decisions!!!

Still debating with my advisory board on which races to do in 2008. My advisory board????

The board is comprised of my left brain, my right brain, and all the muscles in my body. I have to convince some parts of the brain that I can do a race.

Will let you know when the tentative schedule comes out.

Today, good upper body workout and lots of leg work.

Plus 35:00 mins on stationary bike. Heart rate 140-150.

Thank You Tracy Zuckerman

I never got to know Tracy Zuckerman very well, although I worked many years with her husband Barry, a photojournalist at Fox 8.

I want to thank her for a gift that she gave me, but I can't in person.

Tracy died of cancer recently. For about ten years, Tracy was battling cancer. Thats right, ten years. Imagine the Indians making the World Series in 1997. Okay, now imagine you find out you have cancer at about that time. Now imagine battling the insidious disease for a decade.

Thats what Tracy did. All with a smile on her face, and a song in her heart.

I want to thank Tracy for a little piece of heaven on earth. Chagrin River Park in Willoughby.



I have lived in Cleveland for all but 9 of my 54 years. I have been to every Metro Park in the wonderful Emerald Necklace that we love here in Cleveland. I had never been to Chagrin River Park. That all changed this past Saturday, when friends, family and colleagues of her husband gathered to hold an informal service in her honor.

A riderless horse was part of a procession. Tracy was an avid horsewoman. They were very close to her heart. Barry gave a stirring tribute. I don't know how he held it together. B.Z., that was your finest moment. He spoke of a woman who embraced life. A woman who always smiled and fought cancer with dignity and courage and never a.."Why me"? from her lips.

The park was one place where she could be free. Away from the treatments, the drugs, the underbelly of cancer. I met the women who rode with her. All spoke of her great spirit of life.

A few days later, on the very same kind of perfect fall day, I returned to Chagrin River Park. I discovered the trails she may have ridden on. The jogging paths that circled the woods.

The Bridge that takes joggers and walkers over the Chagrin.

The steps to the sledding hill. 52 of them. All perfectly laid out. I ran up and down the stairs. Sweat was flowing. My feet barely meeting the ground. In a way I was running for Tracy. Paying tribute to this beautiful woman. Enjoying the feeling of being free and easy, without a so called care in the world. As I ran, I smiled most of the way. Just as Tracy may have done, staring at the prospect of leaving this earth way too soon. And as I ran, I thought that all those so called aches and pains. The hamstring pulls, the sore feet. They don't mean a hill of beans compared to the gift I received from a woman who always lived in the present.